Newport News pastor killed in Florida

Police in Jacksonville, Fla., say a man has confessed to using a hammer to bludgeon to death a pastor from Newport News earlier this week.

Apostle John Henry Bowser, 76, was found dead in a home at 1625 N. Market St. in Jacksonville just before noon Tuesday, said Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Detective Mark Gupton.

Bowser, who founded the Glorious Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith in Newport News in 1959, also had a church in Florida, which he traveled to often.

Terrence Wright, 24, of Atlantic Beach, Fla., has been charged with murder and armed robbery in Bowser's death.

Wright drove to a police substation in Bowser's car Tuesday just before noon, Gupton said. There, Wright said he had killed someone by hitting him in the head with a hammer, according to a sheriff's office news release.

Investigators think Bowser, who suffered severe head trauma, may have been killed on Monday, Gupton said. Officials will conduct an autopsy Wednesday.

Wright, who eventually confessed to hitting Bowser in the head until he died, told police he wanted to steal money to buy crack cocaine, the news release stated.

Bowser was in Florida for a church service during the weekend, said Melisa Bowser, one of his daughters. Bowser also had a third church in Onancock, she said.

"He was an awesome man. He would help anybody," Melisa Bowser said. "For something like this to happen to him is devastating. He would give you the clothes off his back — that's the type of person he was."

Wright had just been released from the Duval County, Fla., jail April 18 on theft and felony violation of probation charges, according to online jail records.

John Bowser leaves behind Frances, his wife of 58 years. In addition to Melisa, he also had two other daughters, Charity Bowser and Annette Collins, and a son, John Henry Bowser Jr.

On Saturday, Bowser would have celebrated his 77th birthday, and a celebration at his church in Virginia was expected to draw local guests, as well as others from Washington, D.C., and North Carolina, Melisa Bowser said.